<p>collegeperson: My boyfriend is a Dickinson RA. He’s a senior and he’s lived in Dickinson since he was a freshman. He absolutely loves it. I spend a lot of time in his hall, and while it’s older, it’s still a decent place to live. If I weren’t in Hinman, I would want to be in Dickinson.</p>
<p>I can’t say anything about Newing, as I don’t know anyone who lives there.</p>
<p>I’m not in a learning community myself, but I’ve heard that they do indeed take away from the stereotype of a given community.</p>
<p>What’s the course load like here, honestly? I’m looking for a challenging school, as I was at community college and then a very, VERY liberal arts college that didn’t test or give much HW other than reading. </p>
<p>Also, anyone here a Cinema Studies major? Can anyone give me any insight into how the department is, the teachers, etc.?</p>
<p>jb12: The new dorms sound like they’ll be quite nice. They’re still under construction, so we haven’t really seen anything other than some drawings of what they’ll look like. There’s some controversy in Dickinson and Newing over the fact that there will only be one “collegiate center” for the new Dickinson & Newing buildings. Presently, each community has its own dining hall, area office, and Discovery Center. The plans for the new Dickinson and Newing call for only one dining hall/area office/Discovery Center, and some people are worried that the communities will lose some of their character when this happens.</p>
<p>transfer2010: The course load here is fairly challenging, in my opinion. I came to Binghamton looking for a place where I’d actually be learning, and I feel that I am doing that here. You can coast in some classes, but there are plenty of challenges to be found. As for cinema studies, I can tell you that the department here is very experimental. I’ve got a friend who’s a cinema major, and she really likes it here. If you’ve got any more specific questions, I’d be happy to pass them on.</p>
<p>Dont worry about the dorm stereotypes too much. I have a close friend in newing, and out of his whole group of friends (~10 close friends), only 1 is in a frat. You can easily get involved in the frat scene if you want to, but you can just as easily avoid it.</p>
<p>Also, for those of you deciding on where to live: pay close attention to suite/corridor. I am in a suite in mountainview, and its very nice. The room is big (bigger than any other rooms on campus), the building is new, etc. But you pay for a bit with the social scene – my building especially (windham) is very antisocial. It seems like a lot of people treat it like a hotel – you walk into your room, and shut the door; you never really leave unless youre going to class. Contrast this to a friends dorm in newing: his room is a lot smaller and he doesnt have a suite, but he also knows everyone in his floor (and most likely his building).</p>
<p>But dont worry too much about it, you will meet people wherever you go…just a little thing to think about.</p>
<p>Also, for dickinson, even though it isn’t as much of a party scene as newing, is it still a social communtiy? like what’s the reputation of people in these dorms?</p>
<p>Based on the time I’ve spent there (albiet as a visitor), I think Dickinson is pretty social. When it’s warm out, there always seem to be people playing on the quad. At least in my boyfriend’s building, people seem to keep their doors open and to constantly be running up and down to talk to each other, or hanging out in the hallway. Dickinson has a reputation for being quieter and more studious, but you really have to take all the stereotypes with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>thisisnew: rooms in Mountanview are bigger than hall rooms?! I didn’t realize that. I’m exceptionally jealous, I love Hinman, but our rooms are tiny. I assumed that Mountainview was similar.</p>
<p>I’ve realized at my present school that room size really doesn’t matter. I lived in a super new dorm and my room is huge, but I’m still not happy. Tto all incoming freshmen, I know room size and roommate information is a huge deal now, but it really doesn’t define your college experience</p>
<p>My son just got into Bing, into the Watson School of Engineering for Comp Sci… and we are waiting on financial aid decisions for some private colleges as well, including Bard and St Olaf, and some still to come. First of all, does anyone know what the course requirements are at Watson…for example, how much chance is there to take liberal arts courses as well, and what requirements are there. My son would just as soon never see a foreign language course or history course again, but would love to take some philosophy, psychology, etc. </p>
<p>Second, you talked a lot in all these posts about drinking, but little about weed, except for saying that college in the woods people did some. If your kid does a little of everything, off and on, but doesn’t want a scene dominated by either, in other words balance, but not abstinence, what would be a great dorm?</p>
<p>Third. When I went to college a million years ago, Berkeley, there were student coops, essentially dorms where you did five hours of workshifts a week and paid a lot less. But the upside was it built incredible community among those living there… is there anything like that at Bing? Or other types of intentional communties based on ideas, like science and tech, etc.? Thanks for the answers!!!</p>
<p>I’d also like to know about the dorms that are a bit balanced in terms of “partying”. Not a big drinker or smoker at the moment, but I dabble. I don’t want it to be the norm or prevalent culture, but I’d like the option.</p>
<p>There are no co-ops like the ones you mentioned at Binghamton, unfortunately. I wish there were! There are, however, some “living & learning” communities, where students live in the same hall and take one or two classes with their hallmates. I believe the CS one is located in Newing, but don’t hold me to that.</p>
<p>transfer2010: I’m not entirely sure what I mean by experimental, I’m only repeating what I’ve heard! I know that the program here seems to have lots of abstract film going on, stuff that doesn’t make much sense to me - but then, I am not a Cinema major! I suggest taking a look at the Cinema Dept.'s website, which will (hopefully) be of some help to you. [Binghamton</a> University - Academics: Schools and Colleges: Harpur College of Arts and Sciences: Degree Programs: Cinema](<a href=“http://www2.binghamton.edu/cinema/]Binghamton”>http://www2.binghamton.edu/cinema/)</p>
<p>Their is going to be people that smoke and drink no matter what dorm you’re in (with maybe the exception of a chem free dorm, and even then people drink). You’ll find people that have the same interests as you no matter where you live. CIW is known for smoking and newing is known for frats, but these are just general blanket statements.</p>
<p>Computer Science majors do need to take a language class, but he would be exempt if he received over an 85 on the NYS foreign language Regents exam. I believe there’s something about being exempt if you’ve taken a language for 4 years or something similar, but I’m not sure about that.</p>
<p>each residential community has its own dining hall – so it doesn’t matter where you live in terms of being near a dining hall.
ciw is a combination of corridor rooms and suites – the suites are in corners of the floor so they shaped a little oddly – the suite lounges aren’t rectangular. [Binghamton</a> University - Residential Life - College-in-the-Woods - Room Styles](<a href=“http://www.reslife.binghamton.edu/ciw/room-types.html]Binghamton”>http://www.reslife.binghamton.edu/ciw/room-types.html)
the double rooms are an ok size – not the largest rooms on campus.
location is convenient to pretty much everything – you have to go up stairs to get to all of the dorms in ciw so you have to get used to doing a lot of stairs.</p>
<p>On the tours, will they show us all the dorms? I’ve never dormed before, and I think I want something corridor-style for the college experience, but I’d like to see them all, except for the apartments which I don’t have interest in.</p>